Obama's photographer: The challenge of finding story to tell

Tackling the future of photography
He said it is very difficult to make a living out of photography. “Photography will always be around and more people enjoy photography now. On the one hand, everyone is a photographer now which is great but it also devalues a single image. It has become easy to take pictures where one just has to press a button to get an image. It used to be a craft earlier, where one had to know the camera and filming process.”

Advice for newcomers
He advised newcomers to photojournalism to tread with caution in an era characterised by social media habits where people enjoy 15-second video content and moving images. However, he commented that “photography will be more democratic because whenever something happens, someone will take a picture and it will give a sense of what’s happening around the world”.

Challenges in the industry
Schoeller, who took pictures of former US President Barack Obama and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel , said funding is an issue in keeping business afloat. Copyright issues and database of AI images are bottlenecks in the use of images in advertising.

Emphasizing democratic portraits
Schoeller’s close-up portraits have emphasised the facial features of his subjects — world leaders and indigenous groups, movie stars and the homeless, female bodybuilders and artists — levelling them in an inherently democratic fashion.

A Personal project
Schoeller gave his audience a presentation of The Death Row Exonerees, a personal project of his from 2019, which departed from the usual style of still photography to capture the emotions and story behind the lives of convicts in US prisons who had escaped the noose. It turned into a museum exhibition with video installations, and later a story for National Geographic, which helped raise money for ex-convicts’ organisation Witness to Innocence, he said.

Upcoming presentation
Schoeller will hold a presentation on February 23 titled “Redefining portraiture over three decades”.

Xposure 2025
Organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), Xposure 2025 runs from February 20 - 26. It features 100-plus galleries, over 300 renowned photographers and over 2500 pictures. Xposure is the biggest platform for visual storytelling globally, redefining how photography and media communicate humanity’s most pressing issues. The festival fosters a space for creators of all levels to showcase their talents, hone their skills, and connect with global professionals.

Learn more about the biggest platform for visual storytelling globally. Visit https://xposure.net/.